After going hurriedly through a collection of “reports” lying before
him on the desk he rendered his opinion in this-wise: The summing up
of all the reports--as far as my examinations had extended--led to the
discovery that my trouble was located in my left kidney!
I was on the point of making some jaunty remark about their having
wasted a lot of time and labor in finding out what I had told them
at the beginning, when he showed me the X-ray pictures, revealing a
condition of the kidney which called for an operation. This discovery
having been made in my first examination, all the others seemed a
mere waste of time and effort. But I was less disturbed about past
events than I was over the prospects of the future. The suggestion of
an operation, coming unexpectedly, gave me a queer jolt, not easily
described. It seemed more like a bad dream than a reality. Without
the remotest idea that any such action would be necessary I had made
my plans to return East in a few days; and having felt no pain or
inconvenience for more than a month it was impossible to adjust myself
to the thought of an operation. A man with a violent toothache has a
lessened dread of the dentist; and a griping pain in the midriff or
in the appendix quarter mitigates the terror of seeing the doctor; but
for a fellow in perfectly good health and spirits to go voluntarily and
submit himself to being cut open is quite another matter.
When I reported the verdict to my family, to my utter amazement they
seemed not in the least surprised; indeed they were somewhat jubilant
that it was no worse. My suggestion to put off the operation till I
could think it over met with a storm of protest; the whole family
party were of one voice in declaring that as long as it had to be done
sometime it must be done immediately while I was in good health. They
would all stay with me, play with me, and keep me constantly amused.
With the late scientific discoveries in surgery, all contributing to
the safety and comfort of the patient, there was nothing to worry
about. In short, after the first shock it would be a regular outing
for me. One might have supposed they were trying to inveigle me into
going to a circus or a football game. Their arguments were seconded
and supported by a man we had met at the hotel, who chimed in with
the joyful news that he had just been through a similar operation and
although, minus one kidney, he never enjoyed such good health in all
his life. Without wishing him the least harm, I almost regretted that
he felt so well.
We talked with the chief urologist, who joined enthusiastically in
their cheerful persuasions; but somehow I couldn’t seem to fall in with
their light-hearted view of things. It’s remarkable what a trifling
matter an operation is--to the other fellow. They all seemed to regard
the act of cutting me open as being no more serious than that of
manicuring a broken fingernail.
Any married man knows how difficult it is to hold his own against
the arguments of _one_ woman; and to stand out against a whole
bevy of them requires a species of fortitude of which no normal man
is possessed. Being hopelessly in the minority, both as to numbers
and argumentative force, I appealed to Doctor Braasch and asked if
the operation couldn’t be postponed a few months or a year without
endangering my health. For a moment he seemed to weaken slightly in
favor of the losing side, and admitted that it probably could; but the
women insisted that it couldn’t. Having made up their minds there was
going to be an operation, they would hear to nothing else, and declared
that I was only delaying the performance with needless discussion.